One of the widespread beliefs about alcohol consumption during pregnancy is that "for a little nothing happens", but it does happen. Or it can happen, because each woman's body reacts differently to alcoholic beverages and even moderate alcohol consumption in pregnancy can affect the baby.
Alcohol consumption during pregnancy, and especially during the first trimester of pregnancy, can cause irreversible changes in the fetus, both physical and neurological. In fact, it is the second cause of mental disorder, after Down syndrome. Even so, and although it is not understandable, almost half of the pregnant women continue to consume alcohol.
Alcohol is a teratogen, which means that it is an agent or a substance capable of causing malformations in the embryo, from cleft lip, congenital defects, malformations in vital organs such as kidneys, heart and liver, even in severe cases, fetal death .
It is a substance that freely crosses the placenta, therefore, the baby reaches the same breathalyzer as the mother. That is why even moderate consumption can cause small deficits in the formation of the brain then translated into disorders such as attention problems, memory, learning and behavior disorders.
The first trimester is critical because alcohol breaks the plasticity of the brain and in the first weeks is when the brain forms, but the rest of the pregnancy is no less important, because the brain continues to develop until the time of delivery (in fact it follows making many years after birth).
Because it is an avoidable evil, the recommendation then is that of zero alcohol during pregnancy, not a drop, because there is no amount of "security" that can be drunk and even moderate alcohol consumption in pregnancy can affect the baby.
